


Surprises in Santa Land

by yuniesan



Series: Rucas Holiday Bingo [3]
Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/M, Holiday Bingo, Special moment, santaland, short and fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 14:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16976472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuniesan/pseuds/yuniesan
Summary: Riley works at Santaland, on her last day she gets a special Christmas surprise





	Surprises in Santa Land

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the Work as an Elf Square on the Holiday Bingo Card
> 
> A/N: Everyone gets to visit Santa when they’re growing up, well if your faith allows it, usually you see those mall Santa’s on TV, but here in NYC we have Santaland which is at Macy’s. I mean there’s still mall Santa’s but the Macy’s one is the one everyone tries to go to because it’s one of those traditions you have to have growing up. Also, I worked there, and while it is magical when you’re there, when you work there you get a crash course in Holiday retail, and it’s a nightmare I swear.
> 
> Also, it started snowing just as I finished writing this.... so the snow is blessing our favorite couple!!!

Riley could always remember the day when she knew that December would be the greatest month ever. She had been six years old, and her parents had taken her to the mall to see Santa while they were visiting her grandparents, everything felt magical. When she was eight they took her to see Santa on her birthday, so that she could ask for two presents, one for her birthday and one for Christmas.

That was the first time they had taken her to see Santa at Macy’s, she had asked them why she couldn’t see him when he was at the store since they lived closer, and why she always had to go with Josh when they were in Philly. Auggie had been a year old at the time, and her parents had wanted to find a way to fulfill Riley’s wish. So as a family they had gone for the first time, getting on the long line to see Santa. When they walked through the maze Riley had seen nothing but magic all around them, the music, the little town displayed next to them, and at the end Santa’s Village with elves walking around.

December had always had this magic touch for her, the moment the month arrived, she would jump for joy and decorate her room with every ornament she could find. Her parents had found it quirky, and her friends weren’t the most supportive because of her love of things like Secret Santa, but it didn’t matter to her because there was nothing that could get her down when December came along.

She had gone through high school with her traditions and had wanted to keep them for college, as all of her friends scattered, Riley off to NYU, Lucas off to one of the CUNY schools, Maya at the New School, Farkle and Smackle at Princeton, and surprisingly at NYU Zay with Riley. Josh had graduated, but had stayed in the city, his relationship with Maya finally getting to where they had always wanted it to be, the long game finally over, because if Riley had wanted one thing to stop it would be the pining between the two of them.

The fourth year of school, Riley had decided to get a job at Macy’s, she wanted to buy something for Lucas for the holidays and it was a little on the expensive side for her because she didn’t really have money. Even with internships and work study, all of her money went into saving up, because she was never sure if she would have enough money after she graduated and moved out of her parents’ house. The job was as an elf at Santaland, the magical place from her childhood, and she couldn’t have been happier because it was like living a childhood dream. They paid their employees very well and even allowed them to walk the parade which made the whole experience worth a million dollars to her. She had finished the semester only working three days a week, but once she was done they had allowed her to work more hours as the crowds started coming in.

“Welcome,” she would say to everyone as she greeted them into the maze, where they would wait.

Her family and friends hadn’t known that she was there, and she was glad for it too, they only knew that she had taken a holiday job, because she couldn’t babysit her brother anymore, since her was old enough to take care of himself. She always worked crowd control for some reason, but it hadn’t mattered to her as long as she saw the excited faces on the little kids. It reminded her of when she was little and going to see Santa, but she had realized that she hadn’t seen Santa that year and she really wanted to, even as an elf, because it would be a memory she would treasure.

The last day, which was also the shortest day they had to work, was actually the hardest for Riley, the line was longer than usual, and people were irritating her for some reason. She hadn’t seen her friends in weeks, as Josh had taken Maya to Philly, because he was going to propose there while they spent the holiday with Riley’s grandparents, Farkle and Smackle had gone off to Alaska, because they had wanted to study something, Zay was in Texas baking with his grandmother, and she didn’t even know where Lucas was at all. It was the first time that they hadn’t done Secret Santa, which made her melancholy, and the people waiting to see Santa himself had resorted to trashing the place as they went along, not caring about the magic of the place at all.

Each time she had to change her station she had found something that shouldn’t have been where it was, one of which was a used diaper, which she thought was gross, she had to pick it up and put it somewhere else. Again gross. The magic of the holiday was fading, and she didn’t like losing that part of herself, but she also wanted it to be done because some people didn’t believe in boundaries if they were leaving their trash all over the place, not caring about the place they were visiting.

So, when the last person had walked through leaving Riley alone dressed as the saddest elf in the place, she sighed and started cleaning up everything around her just like she had done every night since she had started working there. Her co-workers rushing around, excited to be going home for the holiday, while she was still sad about not having the chance to spend it with her friends and family.

“Hey Riley,” one of her co-workers said to her as she walked by. “The boss wants to see you in the village, she said you were the only one who hasn’t taken a picture with the big guy.”

“Yeah well,” she said looking around, the place was clean, but she still wanted to find a way to get her spirits up, she loved Christmas. “I guess I was busy, but I’ll be there in a minute.”

Riley wanted to smile, she didn’t want to have her moment with Santa, her wish to be tainted by the way others acted, or by the fact that she missed her friends. So, she took several breaths, watching as the little train made its final journey for the year, before walking to the end of the maze where Santa’s village stood with its little houses and the north pole candy cane at the center. She was going to smile for her picture, and then she would go home and treasure it for the rest of her life.

When she got there, she looked up to where the candy cane stood and came face to face with Lucas for the first time in what had felt like a million years. He was smiling, wearing her favorite blue sweater of his and a pair of black jeans, contrasting with the red, white and green of the village. He was smiling at her, and she could feel her heart speed up as he did so, because he looked gorgeous and she looked like a haggard little elf.

“Hey,” she said to him smiling for real for the first time that day.

“Hi,” he said which strangely had always been her words, and now it was weird that it was backwards, but it still felt right.

“Hey,” she said walking towards him, reaching out to take his hand, and smiling.

“I wanted to surprise you,” he said after a moment. “We’ve all been so busy lately, and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but all of our friends abandoned us.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” she said, no bitterness in her voice, because Lucas being there made up for everything bad that had happened during the day.

“I asked your boss for permission to come here today, so that I could surprise you, and take you to dinner, but I think maybe you might just want to go home Riles, because you look a little tired.”

“Not anymore, not since I saw you,” she could feel her face flush, he would always have that effect on her, especially when he surprised her like this.

“Well, I had two reasons to be here today,” he said smiling as his ears turned red, she had noticed it when they had first started going out, how when he was embarrassed or blushing, it would show on his ears first. It was cute, and she loved it the most, when they cuddled she would always nuzzle up to his ears, and he had started putting cologne there too, which made her want to stay close to him all of the time.

“Other than seeing me dressed like this?” she gestured to her outfit with a goofy grin, all of a sudden feeling the magic of the holiday coming back.

“Yeah,” he answered with his own grin. “The first was to surprise you with dinner, and the second was to well,” he got down on his knee and took her hand. “Riley Matthews, you’ve been the sun in my life for almost ten years now, and while we’ve had some ups and downs over the years, we’ve always come back to one another. You’re my soulmate, my better half, the love of my life, and I want to spend the next hundred million years being with you,” he pulled out a small ring, it looked like the one she had seen at a vintage store a few months before, when they had been on a date, and had decided to walk around. “Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”

It was there in that moment, while she was dressed as an elf, surrounded by Santa’s Village, where she remembered why she loved Christmas so much. It was because of the people she had always been with, her friends, her family, and most of all the man kneeling in front of her.

“Yes Lucas, I will be glad to spend the rest of my life with you, and even when we turn to stardust, I will still be there right next to you.”

With a grin, he stood up and put the ring on her finger before pulling her close and kissing her, the grin still on both of their faces, the cheers of the people around them. In the most Christmas place in the world, because there was a magic in the holiday, one that she had always known, and almost lost, only to find it again.

When they pulled away, Riley was surrounded not only by her coworkers, but her friends and family who had been hiding without her knowing. Lucas having planned the perfect proposal after all, even having everyone tell her that they would be somewhere else. Mainly because none of them would have been able to keep the secret, especially with how her father had been for so long, and who had currently faked a heart attack. Which meant that he hadn’t known about the proposal, and it made her laugh out loud when she saw him, before she gave Lucas another kiss, taking his hand and bring him to Santa’s house, because she wanted a picture of the moment so she could remember it for the rest of her life.


End file.
